I dunno. I get the idea that we should have thicker skin and expect marketing to be overblown (if it's too good to be true, it probably is). However, I think back to to the times where the marketing for a game and the actual game itself have been in concert with each other, and it's awesome. I remember the hype steadily building for Mass Effect 2, Batman: Arkham City, The Last of Us, or Metal Gear Solid 2 and then the games subsequently delivering on that hype (and sometimes even surpassing expectations) and that is a fantastic feeling. Riding the hype train is a real bummer when it the game ends up being disappointing, but it's pretty incredible when the game is as a good or better than the marketing says it is. We who are more familiar with the ins and outs of the industry should probably be more careful with marketing, but I think it's still fun and rewarding to get excited about a game prior to release due to marketing.
Yep. Rajinikanth is a badass. I haven't watched his past couple of movies (he only does a few every couple of years right these days right?) but I hope this one is good. That man must be immortal.
"I can't wait to see what Nintendo does with these open-world conventions"
Yeah, pretty much this. If this was just another open-world game, I wouldn't be as psyched. Since this is Nintendo and motherfuckin' Zelda, my expectations are dramatically higher. Nintendo has a way of taking genres and concepts in other games and applying a level of polish, charm, and attention to detail that just doesn't exist in most other games. Things like Link humming along to the cooking or Link shivering in the menus when it's cold or even shield surfing are all great examples of the care Nintendo puts into their big marquee products. Even higher level changes like making a Metroid game a first person shooter and actually nailing first person platforming is a great example of how Nintendo doesn't always need to reinvent the video game wheel, just sharpen the hell out of it.
And about the world being empty.. I dunno, from the demos I saw, it looked like the density of "stuff" spread throughout the land was right for me. I remember playing the witcher and sighing as I saw fourteen different question marks (usually boring monster nests or chests with armor that I wouldn't use) litter the path to my next objective. At some point, that game felt a little too densely packed for my tastes and I felt like I was wondering around for the sake of getting rid of those darn question marks rather than just exploring the world. I like Nintendo's approach of not really putting a million icons in your face (though it remains to be seen if unlocking all the "towers" will just result in that) and just letting you take in the world.
Also that art style is incredible. That's just a matter of taste though.
Gonna miss you, you were a big part of this site over the past year. Good luck to whatever is next and keep inspiring people to think about games critically.
So here's the thing... I might be terrible for thinking this, but I've always kind of wanted to do Pixar to invest that incredible technology and talent that they have on some more mature characters, topics,settings, and themes. While the Pixar movies are generally fantastic, they never stray too far from being very well produced "kid's movies" that adults can also enjoy. Every once in a while they tackle some more heady topics (think Wall-E) and while they do some interesting stuff, I feel like they are never able to veer too far from the path of the standard Disney animated film formula.
The Overwatch shorts end up being great in terms of world building for me as they set up this universe that has all the cartoon-y flash and spectacle while also hinting at some deeper themes and having way better fight scenes than any Pixar movie. They may fail to have the depth that Pixar movies do, but I think they paint a fantastic roadmap for some animation company out there to make a more mature movie that doesn't have to be brown and gritty and boring all the time.
But I guess Miyazaki has been doing that for years, so I digress.
Yeah just finished Hearts of Stone. Super excited for this one, especially cause there seem to be some decent quality of life improvements to the gameplay.
I snagged Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Remix in a raffle and am now playing through KH2FM on critical. The last time I played KH2 was when I was 11 and enjoyed it quite a lot. Since then, I decided to get all adult and stuff and have put on my snobby critical lenses and I've been known to call out the series as a sign of the downfall of Japanese games.
Replaying it now... I dunno. I still stand by the notion that the game is very very "up-its-own-ass" about its story and themes, but I actually think the gameplay is fantastic and takes a fair bit of strategery and skill on the higher difficulties. I expect I will enjoy Birth By Sleep even more as people seem to highlight that one as having the best gameplay in the series.
Should Vinny play it? Yeah, probably. It will probably be entertaining.
@monkeyking1969: Wait. Your idea is too good. What if we had both games? You play Kratos' crazy dream sequences where he is a god-killer taking out his anger on everything in sight. QTE's galore. And then you wake up and go to your therapist to deal with your latent anger issues. Collectibles and stuff you do in the dream sequences affects the dialogue options you have during the therapist sessions and the choices you make during the therapy sessions affects the gameplay during the dream sequences.
Log in to comment